The U.S. government confirmed Monday that it has no plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. It is the first official denial from the Obama administration concerning the issue after Republicans from the House of Representatives called for “redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to the Western Pacific region.”

The UN’s nuclear watchdog and Iran will meet again next week after a “good exchange of views” during two days of talks on the Islamic republic’s atomic programme, a senior UN official said on Tuesday.

The head of the Iranian delegation said progress was made at the meeting in Vienna which dealt with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mounting concerns that Tehran may be seeking to develop the capability to develop nuclear weapons.

NATO on Tuesday invited Pakistan's president to the upcoming Chicago summit on Afghanistan, the strongest sign yet that Islamabad is ready to reopen its western border to U.S. and NATO military supplies heading to the war in the neighboring country.

Arms Control Today spoke with Countryman in his office on April 10. The interview focused on a recent event—the nuclear security summit that took place in Seoul March 26-27—and two upcoming events: the May summit of the Group of Eight (G-8), where the countries are expected to endorse plans for the second decade of the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, and the July conference at which countries will undertake negotiations on an arms trade treaty (ATT).

Washington and Moscow should agree to an 80 per cent cut in nuclear arsenals over the next decade to help encourage smaller atomic powers to engage in multilateral arms control negotiations, says a former senior US general.

Former Commander of U.S. Nuclear Forces Calls for Large Cut in Warheads

Gen. James E. Cartwright, the retired vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former commander of the United States’ nuclear forces, is adding his voice to those who are calling for a drastic reduction in the number of nuclear warheads below the levels set by agreements with Russia.

OPINIONS

Banning Long-Range Missiles in the Middle East: A First Step for Regional Arms Control

Although the goal of ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is receiving increased attention, it remains a distant prospect. Achieving such an ambitious goal will require a series of incremental steps even to begin the process. An agreement that bans the development and possession of ballistic missiles capable of flying more than 3,000 kilometers and includes members of the Arab League, Iran, Israel, and Turkey is a reasonable first step toward a WMD-free Middle East.

As the international community seeks to stave off an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program, policymakers would do well to draw lessons from the first attack to destroy a nuclear facility, Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981. At the time, the attack drew near-universal condemnation, but it soon came to be seen as a milestone in nonproliferation, demonstrating that force could be a practical option to halt a suspected nuclear weapons program without harmful repercussions for the attacker.